cymbalta can help. pull out the paper and what? another article that says investors could lose tens of thousands of dollars in hidden fees on their 401(k)s?! seriously? seriously. you don't believe it? search it. "401(k) hidden fees." then go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. we have every type of retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. why? because we're not your typical wall street firm that's why. so you keep more of your money. e-trade. less for us. more for you. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. topping our agenda today, no love, anything but hearts and flowers for the president with the republicans in congress digging in over his cabinet nominee and pushing back against a prominent pillar of his second term agenda. the president is away from washington this morning. making his second post state of the union stop. he's going to land in georgia any minute where he's going to

talk early childhood education. now, back in d.c., his nominee for secretary of defense chuck hagel is at the center of a senate showdown. even senator john mccain now backing away from his no filibuster stance of weeks past. the majority leader harry reid took to the floor of the last hour to make this impassioned plea. >> in less than two hours, our country will be without a secretary of defense. there is never in the history of the country been a filibuster of a defense secretary nominee. never. but it's shocking that my republican colleagues would leave the nation without a fully empowered secretary of defense. >> debate on chuck hagel is not over. i am going to fight the idea of jamming somebody through. i'm going to hit you and keep hitting you. >> every republican there voted against moving the hagel nomination out of committee. there has to be a reason for that. why is it we're having to rush in to the confirmation.

>> so just two days after the president's call to action to congress on gun control, nra ceo wayne lapierre is expected to give his decision on the state of the union tonight. hold on to your hats, it's going to be a doozy. he writes hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils we are sure to face, not just maybe, it's not paranoia to buy a gun, it's survival. >> the republican party, if they were smart, their leaders today would condemn it, but they're not smart, they're scared. they're going to get hammered in future elections if they allow this clown to continue to lead them around by their nose. >> joining me now to talk more is wyoming's republican senator john barrasso also a member of the gop leadership team and chair of the republican policy center. we showed there harry reid talking this morning from the floor. i want to show this what harry reid is describing what's going

on in our nation's capital. >> this isn't high school. getting ready for a football game. or some play being produced in high school. we're trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country. >> you said you would be a no vote on hagel. if so, why? >> yes, anyone that saw the confirmation hearing knows that chuck hagel's presentation was weak and wobbly. and democrats are very embarrassed by this nominee, but they feel committed to have to stand with the president in spite of the fact they're not very happy with the choice either. we have just asked for some additional legitimate answers to questions about income of chuck hagel. some speeches he's given. so we say let's just delay the vote a week until we get back from the president's weekend and

come back and then vote at that time when we get this additional information. >> so you're comfortable with panetta stepping down and the country not having a secretary of defense? >> well, that's a decision by leon panetta. i'm not comfortable with chuck hagel as secretary of defense, we've asked legitimate questions for information and there's no reason to have to rush the vote through tonight or tomorrow. >> but it is coming, though. because a cloture file was submitted by harry reid. do you think -- you said that the democrats are embarrassed, but is it republicans are embarrassed to support one of their own because chuck hagel did not support the iraq surge? is this basically trying to settle an old score? >> well, i don't see it that way at all. i think you took a look at chuck hagel's entire history in terms of his opposition to sanctions against iran. different things he's written about disarmament including unilateral disarmament.

i think he's the wrong person for this position. and anybody that watched the hearngs in just the past week knows that this man is not prepared to be secretary of defense in terms of making sure we as a nation remain strong and able to defend ourselves in all situations. >> even though in his testimony, america has and must maintain the strong esmil tear in the world that we must lead the international community to confront challenges today and must use tools of american power to protect our citizens and our interests. do you think he was lying? >> no, i just think that chuck hag hagel has a long history of supporting whatever happens to be popular at the time. wherever people are looking for something, he's going to provide that, which is why we wanted to see some of his speeches he's given, some of the sources of income that he's received. so we can say, okay, he may say this on one day, but look what he said on another day. >> sir, i want to get on the record take about wayne lapierre going to give an official nra response to the president's state of the union.

he put out an op-ed in which he said after hurricane sandy, we saw the hellish world the gun prohibitionists as their utopia. you better get back before dark or you might not get home at all. do you support his position and how he wants to describe what it means to have gun violence regulation in this country to scare people into thinking we all need to be packing? >> well, i think we need to take a couple of steps back and say let's have the votes in the united states senate that the president has asked for. let's have an open debate on that whole issue. but again, the president is going to need to talk to harry reid about that. i believe harry reid is not going to bring to the floor for a vote or open discussion or debate a number of these issues because he's had a number of members who are running as democrats for the senate in just two years. and they're from states where the president is -- continues to

be very unpopular and he does not want those senate candidates to have to choose between the president and their own constituents who oppose what the president is proposing. >> republican senator from wyoming, john barrasso, sir, thank you for your time this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, thomas. i appreciate it. i want to bring in and say good morning to our panel. cnbc contributor and democratic strategist keith boykin and msnbc contributor susan del persio. let's where we left off with barrasso and talking about the nra and the fact that barrasso thinks harry reid will likely try to drag his feet to bring something to the floor. let's talk directly about wayne lapierre and the op-ed, he says the 4 million of us belong to every community in the united states. we are the largest civil rights organization in the world.

and we have been part of the fabric of america ever since 1871. okay. so we belong to every community in the united states and there are second amendment supporters on both sides of the aisle that truly believe in the argument of people being able to buy a gun. just in the same vein of we have freedom of religion, we also have freedom from religion. we have freedom to buy a gun, shouldn't we have freedom from people who have guns? >> absolutely. background checks should be put in place immediately. there's no reason, even harry reid shouldn't be afraid to put that up for a vote. and i think they would get the support out of a republican congress. that is not a second amendment issue. the fact is that you are -- you are allowed to have a gun in your home, you are allowed to protect yourself. it doesn't mean that, for example, in new york city, you're allowed to walk around carrying a gun. it's for the safety of the whole. that's okay. what's going on right here is really republicans need to stand up when we hear this fear

mongering going on. let's call it the way it is. we want to do some things we have to do, we're for the second amendment, but let's be reasonable and rational on this. >> well, as we -- as i brought up to senator barrasso there about using hurricane sandy as a reference point. could you imagine, you know? come on. they'd be fighting over the food and the toilets. >> he's appealing to the same people that didn't want to give funding for sandy victims a month ago. >> yeah, you would think -- look at that cruise ship. what's the tone in washington right now? after that impassioned speech, obviously that is the key point of the speech where the president seemed to be almost preaching to a congregation. >> the gun control movement, i think, what we're seeing now like susan said, background checks are moving, there's a coalition around universal background checks, joe manchin and other democratic senators who are for that. assault weapons probably not going to pass as you probably know. and the question might be about

high-capacity magazines about the ban on those will pass. republicans still nervous about this issue. you saw in your interview, john barrasso would not condemn wayne lapierre's very crazy op-ed piece. republicans worried about this issue, still not sure if they get primaried if they get behind gun control too much. >> senator barrasso having an "a" rating from the nra. i'll get that out there. but i'll talk to you about the interview, as well. primarily focusing on chuck hagel and the fact that will come to a vote tomorrow. he would be the first foot soldier, you know, in that position. a vietnam vet, has a great career as a republican from nebraska. what do you think is the main opposition to seeing him get into that seat? he said weak and wobbly performance at his hearing. >> i don't know what the opposition is quite frankly, thomas. maybe susan can help explain it. i think one of the reasonable republicans out there.

he's a republican and he has been a republican who democrats have had uneasiness in the past. president obama's appointment and he should have an up or down vote. i think that harry reid should go back and reconsider the whole idea about the filibuster negotiation they had last month. but, i mean, they have asked for five years of financial records from chuck hagel, they were comfortable for one year of financial records from mitt romney and suddenly for a person with few responsibilities they want more records, completely inconsistent. >> as we see from plymoupolitic republicans see the writing on the wall, but that doesn't mean they won't drag out the proceedings to extract every possible concession they can get and weaken the nominees and the white house in the process. susan, doesn't this look weird to everybody? especially when we talk about chuck hagel because basically john mccain gave john kerry a piggy back ride to his hearing. he was the biggest obstacle in the hagel hearing. and john kerry voted against the

iraq surge too just like hagel did. what's the difference? >> it's not hagel's a republican or democrat, it shouldn't matter, he's the president's choice. this is not supposed to be a witch hunt, which is what republicans currently are making the nomination about. the problem is all of these nominations they're trying to basically make headlines over. and that's just fundamentally wrong. and i would advise republicans to remember, eventually they're going to get the white house back and they're not going to want to have this on the other side. they should treat all the nominees with the proper respect. they can question it and vote against them, but don't do this filibuster thing. >> is getting 60 votes in the senate going to be the standard moving forward? >> i don't think it will. you are seeing a movement to get away from that. they're not going to fundamentally filibuster, they're not going to stop chuck hagel. they're not going to block him, they're going to delay and delay. you can tell it's very personal

here. what this is about john mccain and lindsay graham, and they just don't like chuck hagel and that's what's driving this process more than anything else. personal differences more than real policy substance right now. >> my thanks to our special valentine's day panel. keith gets the prize for wearing red today. thank you so much. i went a little more cupid-y with mine. thanks so much. >> thank you. if you work full-time, you shouldn't be in poverty. >> waging war over minimum wage. the president wants to raise it, but there's already some pushback from republicans. we are sounding off on that next. plus, an olympic athlete and parolympic star. the details ahead. and our question of the day, is the nra's wayne lapierre hurting the republican party? we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.

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so for a second day in a row, president obama is on the road taking his second term agenda to the people. and this time it's off to georgia where he's going to unveil a plan for universal preschool. >> i believe we reward effort and determination with wages that allow working families to raise their kids and get ahead. and -- [ applause ] and that's part of the reason why i said last night it's time for an increase in the minimum wage because if you work full-time, you shouldn't be impoverty. >> but republicans are not

wasting time pushing back, saying a hike of the minimum wage has no chance of passing. joining me now is goldie taylor. i will also point out she's a georgia peach and the president is in your neck of the woods today. let me play for you today what marcia blackburn had to say earlier on "the daily rundown" about the president's call for a $9 minimum wage. take a listen. >> i'm not for raising the minimum wage, and this is why, you're going to exclude a lot of younger workers. i'm talking to moms out there, one of their primary concerns is their children no longer have the opportunity to go in and get a job at a training wage or a minimum wage and then be mentored into learning how to be responsible, getting that paycheck, understanding the process. >> is that confusing to people, goldie, with the republican party pushing for a more compassionate message, opening the tent door so to speak.

wouldn't upping the minimum wage be a reasonable place to start? >> i think it's ironic when we have republicans today and many, many years talking about how we ought to be cutting down on what we do with welfare and how we help struggling families. you know, what this should be about is meaningful work at meaningful wages. the ironic thing is, some years ago, i lived in decatur, georgia, where the president is today. i was on welfare at the time earning $7.50 an hour part-time at my very first newspaper job. we were on food stamps, received afdc at the time, receiving child care and day care grants, but it was because of those child care/day care grants i was able to return to college and make a meaningful career for myself. $9 may have given me a little more gas money. $9 an hour would've bought more diapers, $9 an hour would've put another meal on the table. so this is real stuff. and when we're talking about the theoretical things, i think we ought to talk about how this impacts real people. >> let's go ahead and play john

boehner. john boehner was just speaking a moment ago, i want to play it for everybody. go ahead and listen. >> -- if he's serious about enacting his agenda, i think it must start with the part of this congress that his party controls the united states senate. you know, what can he get passed in the united states senate. the president wants to impose a national cap and trade energy tax. i would hope that senate democrats would take it up. if the president wants more stimulus spending, i would expect the united states senate to go ahead and take it up. if the president wants more tax hikes that destroy jobs, then his democrat allies in the senate ought to take it up. this isn't the agenda that many americans are looking for. and i think many in the president's own party won't support those ideas. in the house, we're going to continue to focus on what the american people's top priorities are, creating jobs and cutting

spending. now, for the last two years, the house has done its work, we've passed legislation to tackle the tough challenges that america faces only to see our senate colleagues do nothing. well, those days are over. the house will continue to meet our obligations. but the senate democrats must begin to do their work. that's why we passed the no budget no pay act of requiring the senate to pass a budget for the first time in four years and that's why we're going to insist that they finally pass a plan to replace the president's sequester. this sequester was the president's idea. his party needs to follow through on their plans to replace it. >> we've been listening to john boehner giving his briefing. sorry it had to interrupt us. but one thing that was interesting when we talk about the sequester that's coming up. and the fact that the republicans are kind of pushing this off on to president obama and they disavow the fact that

their republican dna is all over it because they as a majority voted for it. >> abosoluteabsolutely, they di. they expected mitt romney to win the election. he didn't. this president is now in office and they've got to really face down the consequences of signing on to that sequester. they've got to really come to the table, roll up their sleeves and do the really hard work of reforming taxes, they've got to do the really hard work of working on the debt ceiling, these other issues. they're trying to back away now and blame this on the president. i don't think it's going to work. >> and basically with john boehner saying they are not on board with anything the president has to do agenda wise. a minimum wage hike is basically d.o.a. >> that's probably right. i just don't think that a hike in the minimum wage will pass, you know, the house of representatives today. but at the end of the day, the president was right. they deserve a vote. working families around this country deserve a vote. and if you vote against the minimum wage, you ought to be

able to go back home and defend it before your constituents. >> great to see you this morning, thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> absolutely. coming up next, he was the first double amputee to run in the olympics, but the man known as the blade runner is a suspect in a murder. and it's a new segment we kicked off this week. today's pick comes from the spirit of valentine's day, why it's a good reason to have a significant other. married people are less likely to have a heart attack. that's good. he's laughing over there. they're laughing at number one. wait until you see number five because you might not believe it. all right. then our runner-up, the harlem shake is taking youtube by storm. one person starts dancing and then when the music drops, others bust a move. you can head to my facebook page for both of these very cool stories.

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to hear more patient stories, visit lyrica.com. welcome back, everybody, we're watching a breaking and shocking story. msnbc news can now confirm that oscar pistorius has been charged with murder after a deadly shooting at his home involving his girlfriend, the model. for more, we want to check in with nbc's sports on-air contributor. this is now just come to light the confirmation that we have to say he has been charged in her murder. >> yeah, the police responded to a call, a gun shot was heard at this home. when they got there, she was found, paramedics were working on her, trying to revive her after a gun shot. they were unable to do so, she apparently died at the scene.

police took pistorius into custody, he's 26 years old, and just in the last minutes they have confirmed that he has been charged with murder. they are also planning to have a hearing, i believe tomorrow at which they will oppose the request that pistorius has made for bail. >> and there we see him in the gray hoodie right there. what more do we know about the background, the relationship between him and the model? the reports i've been hearing is they had not been dating all that long. >> yeah, we don't think they've been dating all that long. it's a relatively recent relationship. they've been seen in public a lot. interestingly, just yesterday, she tweeted a message basically saying, hey, valentine's day tomorrow, what do you have up your sleeve for your love? so she was clearly in a happy, playful mood expecting to have a good valentine's day. so this really came out of nowhere. no one knew of any problems in the relationship.

there is, however, thomas, a report the police have said they were called to pistorius' residence in the past, maybe recently. there could be some history here of police going to his home, we don't know the nature of those visits by the police, whether there were any domestic violence issues. >> thanks so much, rob. appreciate it. here's a look at stories topping the news now for you. five days without power or working toilets. the passengers on the carnival ship triumph will be back on dry land in a few hours. and here's how one passenger described the conditions onboard that ship. >> we have to use the bathroom in these bags in the trash can. you know, like the vanity trash can. and then we have to take it into the hall and put it in these bigger bags. >> questions have surfaced over who might claim the $1 million reward in the case of chris dorner. candidates would likely include

the couple ex-lapd cop allegedly tied up when they found him in their cabin. a marriage equality bill as early as today. democrats say they have the votes they need. but the right side of the state gop putting up resistance to that. warren buffett has a new squeeze. get this, the billionaire investor's company berkshire t hathaway is buying heinz for $28 million. u.s. airways moving toward forming the biggest airline. the $11 billion merger is subject to approval by federal regulato regulators. and even celebrities have to go through security. an airline employee gave kim kardashian and kanye west v.i.p. treatment allowing them to bypass a check point in order to expedite their access to their flight. that flight was delayed an hour. the tsa is not blaming kim-ye for the breach. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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sequester showdown right now on capitol hill, a senate hearing underway on the impact of the looming sequester. march 1st is the date among those testifying, homeland security secretary janet napolitano and arne duncan. and 15 days away from the devastating cuts if the president and congress can't come to an agreement. mitch mcconnell said there's a familiar scenario going on right now. >> phase one, republicans identify a challenge and actually propose a solution. phase two, liberals sit on their hands until the last minute. phase three, they offer some gimmicky tax hike designed to fail and blame everybody else when it does. >> joining me now is democratic congressman chris van hollen of maryland. it's good to have you here. and as you could hear mitch mcconnell right there, i want to get your reaction to that.

and is it basically because as i was pointing out earlier, republican dna is all over the sequester. were they thinking it would be a president romney and not an president obama at this point? >> i think so, thomas. boehner said at the time that he got 98% of what he wanted. number one. and number two, we have now been denied four times in a row the opportunity in the house of representatives to present our plan to replace the sequester in a way that would not have the devastating economic impact that it will have. in fact, today, i'm going to go to the floor of the house to ask why we haven't been able to have a vote on that plan. it would make sure the sequester does not take effect this year, but we would still get the same deficit reduction impact, thomas, by eliminating excessive agriculture subsidies, applying the buffett rule, getting rid of tax breaks from big oil companies.

that would mean that we would not see the loss of 750,000 jobs between march 1st and the end of this year. that's not my number, that's the head of the nonpartisan congressional office. 750,000 american jobs lost this year if we don't find a way to replace the sequester. >> so the a.p., though, is saying, sir, that the senate dems have come up with this plan $3 billion to cut that. and as you brought up the so-called budget rule that would require high-income earners to pay a minimum of 30% tax rates and it would save $120 billion over ten years. so this is along those same lines, correct? >> that's right. in fact, the senate democrats took the -- some of the major provisions that we'd had in the house democratic proposal. both of our proposals would essentially replace the across the board cuts with an alternative and much smarter way to achieve the same amount of reduction both $120 billion over ten years and both of them would ensure that we don't see the

loss of 750,000 jobs, plus all the disruptions to air traffic controllers, food and safety inspectors, medical researchers, folks who work in our veterans hospitals, all those disruptions and 750,000 jobs lost. we would avoid that if we would adopt either the plan we're proposing in the house or the senate democrats. >> so the sequester is something we've been known is coming. something not in the campaigns of either mitt romney or the president. this is new. there is a big debate going on on the hill. and i want to talk to you about the op-ed that wayne lapierre. where he lays out his case for owning a gun, his reasons why. i want you to take a listen to joe read that piece. >> if the country is broke, there likely won't be enough money to pay for police protection and the american people know it. hurricanes, tornadoes, riots,

terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are the perils we are sure to face, not just maybe. >> so joe went on to say this op-ed was laced with racist undertones and you had taken a mom who lost her son to the state of the union address as your plus one. how do you think your republican colleagues can stand behind the voice of the nra continually when they seem to be on the fringe of the argument and the debate itself? >> well, joe scarborough had it exactly right this morning. what the nra is doing is once again engaging in the scare tactics and trying to avoid focusing on the actual proposals that we've put before the congress. i took carol price to the state of the union. she lost her son in a tragic accidental gun shooting a few years ago. and she and all the other moms and dads and brothers and sisters are simply asking congress to vote on this

proposal. universal background checks so that criminals and folks who have been found mentally unstable cannot get a gun. two, limit the size of these magazines so you can only have ten rounds, and three, deal with the military-style assault weapons. and the nra doesn't want to talk about the specifics of most of those issues. rather, they want to engage in these outrageous scare tactics, pretend that people are coming after them to take away all their guns, which is not true, and hopefully given the amount of public attention this issue's getting now, those scare tactics and total distortions and lies will no longer work. >> congressman chris van haolle, i appreciate it. >> great to be with you, thanks. today at 1:00 p.m. eastern time, the president will be in the city of decatur, georgia, to talk about his plan for massive expansion of early childhood education. joining me now to talk about that is patrick murphy. patrick, it's good to see you,

and the white house released the president's early childhood education plan this morning. and as we look at this, the breakdown of it, it goes all the way down from pre-k to 4-year-olds and families below. politico took some of the president's proposals and decided to game it in the chances of success. raising the minimum wage, not good comprehensive tax reform. so-so path to citizenship, decent background checks, as we look at the president's agenda, which is pretty wide and a lot of policy asks that we got out of that state of the union, what do you think about this assessment? do you think it's fair? >> well, it's realistic, i think, thomas, that the president will be able to get three to five serious votes out of the house of republicans. the president has to work with the congress and half the congress is republican. and often times, thomas, really, the president especially with the announcement today in

georgia where you're talking about 4-year-olds going, you know, the pre-k education, which is critical. that is a red state idea. that is happening in states like georgia and oklahoma. and you get an incredible amount of return on your investment. so for every dollar you put into young children being educated, you get about $4 to $11 in benefits. specifically in this example, you look at -- i have a 3-year-old son jack and he's in school. well, only 50% of 3-year-olds in america have an opportunity to go to pre-k education. it expands their vocabulary, they start counting numbers earlier on. they're even learning spanish. it's important on a competitiveness issue in the country. >> and i want to show everybody live pictures of the president there arriving in georgia. again, he's going to be giving that speech coming up at 1:00 p.m. we'll have it here. however, patrick, as the president has talked about this, certainly it comes with a dollar figure attached to what that

means. republicans have been blasting back against the president's plan. take a listen to this. >> when you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? you get less of it. at a time when people are asking where are the jobs? why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people? >> i want people to make a lot more than $9. it's not enough, the problem is if you can't do that by mandating it in the minimum wage laws. they have never worked in terms of helping the middle class. >> we seem to get reaction there that no one on the right wants to see a minimum wage that would go up to $9. the president has arrived in georgia for his 1:00 address coming from decatur. the national journal writing today that boehner is trying to adhere to the informal practice of speakers refusing to let the house vote on bills backed by less than half of the majority party after boehner permitted votes on hurricane sandy bills. if the president wants to move

forward with something like a minimum wage act where it would go up, do you think that type of strategy the rule is going to work in john boehner's benefit? >> it has to work. and because, you know, i don't envy speaker boehner. thomas, what you have in speaker boehner, has to deal with bizarro world. you have most of america that supports programs that are paid for and over half his caucus isn't for it. only 80 republicans voted for it, 151 voted against it for hurricane sandy relief and also with the fiscal cliff deal which we knew we had to do. so you have the rule which basically as you know says at least half my republican caucus has to vote for it. well, getting half the republican caucus to vote for an assault weapon ban, which is common sense and which the majority of gun owners like myself support, they're against. things like raising the minimum wage, they're against, things

like early education, even though it's a red state idea, they're against it, thomas. i don't envy speaker boehner. that's why i'm saying the president has to be strategic, he has to talk about what we're going to get done. and part of that is gun safety. we critically need that. you know today's valentine's day, thomas, it's also the two-month anniversary of newtown, connecticut. over 1,700 americans have died from gun violence these past two months. congress needs to start acting. two, infrastructure spending. you look at over five years ago. remember that bridge, thomas, in minnesota that collapsed? >> sure. >> well, that was structurally deficient for 17 years. they knew it was -- and by the way, that bridge and 75,000 other bridges were structurally deficient. well, guess what happens? 140,000 people still went on that eight-lane bridge until it finally collapsed. well, in pennsylvania, we have 4,000 bridges that are structurally deficient. and again, 75,000 across the

country. do we want -- in that case, there was 13 people that were killed. do we want more kids being killed because we're not willing to invest in infrastructure? we've got to be smart as a country and say we've got to invest and make not just wasteful spending, proper investments to make sure our families are safe, bridges are safe, roads are safe, gun control is safe. i mean, those type of things we absolutely need to do. >> investment in the future needs to start earlier looking down the road. patrick murphy, thank you, sir. i appreciate it. e over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

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love is in the air. allegedly. time now for the poly side bar here on valentine's day. as we mentioned, president obama is spending the afternoon in georgia, but he will be home in time for a v-day dinner. no plans announced just yet for the first couple. last year they went to vermilion in alexandria, virginia. a first look at lbj's love

letters to claudia taylor, ladybird johnson. during their ten-week courtship back in 1934 and lbj was quite persistent in his per suursuit. he wrote, your lack of decision hasn't tempered either my decision or devotion to know what i want. her response, sort of put me on the spot, i love you, i don't know how ever lastingly i love you so i can't answer you yet. the letter's now available to see at lbj's presidential library. a look inside the special bond between marriage gaby giffords and mark kelly, one of the pictures showing the couple gazing lovingly at each other while holding hands. and you can send your valentine with one of their political e-cards from vice president biden, you can send this, hillary, this is my last valentine until 2017. and from hillary clinton, what

difference at this point does this valentine make? from defense secretary nominee chuck hagel, i'll say anything to confirm your love. and an awkward valentine's day for steve cohen, he exchanged a couple of public tweets who is a friend of a model. his response, nice to know you were watching, happy valentine's beautiful girl, that message was deleted a short time later. they insist the two just friends. look what mommy is having.

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if are you among the many that wonder why we spend so much money exploring outer space? according to one report that's how much a 150 wide chunk of ice and rock that's about to buzz past the earth could be worth. here to talk more about this and give us the details, additioning pitz at the chief franklin institute in philadelphia. let's talk about this asteroid.

how close is it to work, and what does it mean? >> it's awe close pass, thomas. this is the closest pass of any tracked asteroid we've ever seen. it's only going to be about 17,200 miles away from earth, and that places it just 5,000 miles away from the outer band of geostationary satellites. this is really, really close. >> when we talk about the size of it and the scope of it, i mean, how accurate are we in the tracking? >> the good thing is that nasa and other agencies have been diligent about tracking this asteroid for some time now, so they have very good data on what the orbital pass of this is, and they can tell within a very few hundred feet or so, maybe a few hundred miles, how close this is to earth, and they know for sure that it won't come any closer than 17,150. that's pretty good. it's great they do that because they can look at other potentials like this too. >> we can be that accurate about its size and its pass of the earth, but let's get to this

$200 billion number about what its cost would be worth. how do we get to that number? how do we put a price tag on this asteroid? >> well, you know, we could look at the composition ofas resides and figure out what their value is according to their mineral worth. if we could actually mine them and, of course, that's another story altogether, but when we think about the kind of minerals that we find there, some of them very rare ones that we need here on earth or that we use quite extentively here on earth, and we have somewhat limited supplies of, then that's how you can determine what the worth of this would be because we may find many, many -- or much, much more of those rare materials in these asteroids. that's how we can come to that number. we have that from stuff here on earth, but we need more of it. >> all right. we'll keep an eye on ebay for any fresh objects that are coming up for bidding. derek pits, nice to see you. >> thank you, thomas. >> there has been a sighting of hillary clinton down here on earth. the former secretary of state was at an awards ceremony at the

pentagon this morning with outgoing defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs dempsey. marks the first time we've seen hillary rodham clinton healthing since she left office and the first time since her accident that she has not been seen wearing those corrective glasses. back at the state department just moments ago the new secretary of state john kerry appeared with united nations secretary general ban ki moon, spoke about this week's nuclear test in north korea. kerry saying that it marks a clear threat to peace and security in the world. >> this week's test was an enormously provocative act that warrants a strong and swift and a credible response from the global community. >> keep hearing that word over and over. provocative. we'll see where it goes from here. that's going to wrap things up for me. on the show tomorrow arizona congressman ron barber, tennessee congresswoman diane black, and on the power panel we have jackie, chris, and robert.

don't go anywhere, though. "now with alex wagner" is coming up the next hour. >> happy valentine. >> back at you. >> republicans are dragging their feet on the chuck hagel vote, while lawmakers hold the john brennan confirmation in limbo. it seems small ball is the name of the game on capitol hill. we'll discuss filibusters, closure votes and other legislative minuta, how is that for a steve, with steve, maggie, joy, and curt anderson. plus, ezra cline joins us for a highly focused look at the push to raise the minimum wage. and climate change and energy reform are on the presidential agenda, but it ain't easy being green. we will get frank on fracking and more with francis, an actor and environmentalist chris nothe. all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. so delicious? because every flake is double-toasted... splashed with sweet honey... and covered in rich double-roasted peanuts. mmm. [ hero ] yummy. [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. it's super delicious!

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